As my disciples, you have nothing to do with either heaven or hell. You have to tread the spiritual path, going beyond both heaven and hell, to experience infinite bliss.
I have held out to you expectations of something much higher than this dream of heavenly paradise and hellish damnation. I have given you the hope that you will gain the experience of Truth by staying with me; that is to experience Paramatma [God the Infinite Consciousness] and to fathom the secret of creation. To gain this Knowledge without the help of a God-realized Master is impossible. Without the guidance of a Perfect Master, individual efforts are of no avail. Hafiz has said:
"Without a guide, do not try to enter the path of love.
I have failed hundreds of times by doing so."
Maulana Rumi, whose Masnavi Usman is so fond of citing, corroborates Hafiz:1
"Had not Maulana Rumi been the slave of Shams-e-Tabriz,
He would never have become a Perfect Master."
One whose object is the attainment of God — whose sole aim in life is to find God — what does he care for heaven and hell? In this connection, Hafiz has said:
"Since I see my Friend throughout both worlds,
Heaven, hell and the houris don't worry me."
Poor Usman Saheb does not understand what he talks about. To say that only Rasool-e-Khuda [Muhammad] can point out the Path or take all Muslims to heaven is a beggary that beggars description! His case is so helpless that instead of being in search of the Truth, he leaves even the question of heaven for himself entirely in the hands of God and also asserts that by our own efforts we should earn entry into heaven, else it is hell! It is sheer hypocrisy to preach to others that which you yourself do not practice.
During October 1922, a Parsi named Burjor Heerjibhoy Engineer came into the Master's contact. Baba once asked him to tell the mandali about his state of affairs. He did so, often quoting from different religious sources, and sometimes weeping during his narration:
Some years ago, I was working as an engineer and earned a large salary. Somehow, I tumbled into the spiritual line and became gifted. With great efforts I managed to reach a stage where I could easily foretell events and, at times, get my prayers fulfilled simply by asking!
Footnotes
- 1.Rumi's Masnavi (Spiritual Couplets) is a six-volume poem regarded by many Sufis as second in importance only to the Koran, and is often called the Qur'an-e-Parsi (The Persian Koran). It is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of mystical poetry.